BBC Question Time descended into chaos on Thursday night when Reform UK's home affairs spokesperson Zia Yusuf branded Alastair Campbell a "war criminal" during a heated exchange over the Iraq War.
The programme, hosted in Warwick, featured a panel that included Chief Secretary to the Treasury Emma Reynolds, Conservative Shadow Defence Secretary James Cartlidge, Liberal Democrat Deputy Leader Daisy Cooper, Yusuf, and journalist and political strategist Campbell.
Iraq dossier accusations
Yusuf brought up the controversial government briefing paper, commonly referred to as the "dossiers," that Campbell released to the British public regarding Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's alleged weapons of mass destruction (WMD).
Yusuf said: "You deceived the British people because you and your old boss Tony Blair wanted to go to war with Iraq, and as a direct result of your deception, almost 180 British troops are dead; 600,000 Iraqi civilians are dead... There are people watching this who disagree with you. When you described yourself as a national treasure recently, they would more aptly describe you as a war criminal, and if there were any justice in this country, frankly, you and your old boss Tony would be on trial."
Campbell responded: "Very good, ok," before a brief pause. He continued: "First of all, Mr Yusuf, six inquiries into it, not one of them found that we lied... not one."
In the minute that followed, both Campbell and Yusuf spoke over each other until Daisy Cooper stepped in to add her point.
Clash spills onto social media
After the show, the debate moved to X, where Yusuf captioned a clip: "Alastair Campbell did not appear to enjoy being called a war criminal to his face: The truth hurts."
Campbell responded, sharing Yusuf's post: "I have heard it from far better people than you and they were wrong too. What I enjoyed was seeing you running away from an argument about Brexit because you would rather talk about anything else. And I loved the smile being wiped from your face when the young woman tore apart your net zero BS. You've got nice suits and nice shoes, but you've got more chance captaining the Sri Lankan cricket team than you have of becoming Home Secretary."
The public exchange divided opinion on X. One user wrote: "Love it, Zia. Fearless," while Reform UK Councillor Matt Johnson said: "We're going to make him Home Secretary and you will weep."
Brexit clash earlier in show
Earlier in the programme, Yusuf and Campbell clashed over Brexit. Campbell said: "I will say to Zia and to his friend Nigel that he talked about so lovingly there, Brexit has taken 6-8% out of our economy, if we had not left the chancellor today would have had £90 billion more to spend. He could have doubled the defense budget."
Host Fiona interjected: "That is a projection Alastair, no-one can be sure about that." Campbell continued: "They [Reform] can sit there. The people who gave us Brexit and they now want to give you another set of false promises. Do not fall for them because they are a bunch of conmen, they're being found out and it's one reason why Nigel Farage will never be Prime Minister of this country."
BBC Question Time returns next week live from Liverpool.
